Emerging Christianity

I thought this would be a good topic to write about, since someone close to me heard me mention it and wondered what it is. So, this is for you, shug. Emerging Christianity, or the Emerging Church, emerging church or whatever else you might call it is..., well, I'm not really sure what it is. It's not really a movement, because that implies a community or organization. And, this thing doesn't really meet that standard. In my first post, I said the people involved refer to it as a conversation. I suppose that works, because, from what I've seen so far, it's about discussing what the church is currently about and how it can be improved. I think it's obvious we need to make some changes. Things like the narrow-minded "my way or the highway" attitude, the smug superiority some "Christians" seem to feel about anyone who doesn't believe the way they do, the homophobia(I hate that word, but it seems to fit). And, (if it's not on the block it should be) the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. In fact, maybe we should rethink the entire idea of doctrine because a lot of what I've just mentioned is more doctrine than anything else.

One of the reasons this thing came about because the generation coming to adulthood is questioning how we do church. Since I work with youth at my church, I'm beginning to see some of this. And, to be honest, it's not that different than the questions most of asked as we transitioned from the faith of our childhood to a more adult version. It's just that these young folks (and, some older ones too) aren't willing to accept the answers that a lot of us did when we grew up. Problem is, some folks aren't too cool with folks asking uncomfortable questions. There's some backlash because of this. Emerging leaders, like Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, and others are called heretics and their commitment to Christ is questioned. I've even heard them referred to as "false teachers" http//www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/2-peter/passage.aspx?q=2%20Peter+2:1-2. Most of these people seem to be of a more fundamentalist bent, good Baptists and the like. Many of them seem to have a strong Calvinist streak http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Calvinist
, and most of the emerging folks seem to be more Arminian http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Arminianism. But, what I think is happening here is they're threatened. I mean, you've got bunch of people talking about taking their treasured beliefs, ones they spent years developing and building lives on, and turning them upside down. And, that's scary for them. I understand that, but I can't condone their attacks, out-of-context quotes and deliberate misunderstanding of these new ideas. It's kind of sad, really.

For my part, I like a lot of the ideas. One of the coolest parts of this deal is that you don't have buy into it lock, stock and barrel. You don't want to go as far as McLaren when he talks about homosexuality, that's cool. Or someone makes you uncomfortable saying that we need to change the whole framework of Christianity? Fine, don't go there. But, I think we have an unique opportunity to shape how future generations look at Christianity and that's pretty exciting.